Ethan Cole

Communist neighbors the People's Republic of China and North Korea vehemently denied that their governments engage in systematic torture of political and criminal detainees as claimed by the United Nations.

A U.S.-based rights group countered a claim by the Bible Society in China this past week that the smuggling of Bibles into the country is now unnecessary given the mass printing of scriptures by the government-approved printing press.

Incentives such as money, food, foreign liquor, gasoline, among others things are being used to mobilize Hindu extremists against the religious group that makes up only two percent of India's population.

A Christian human rights group is urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to maintain his plan to visit Burma next month in light of the junta's recent arbitrary imprisonment of dozens of pro-democracy activists.

People want to help poor children, but the reality is Christmas is right around the corner and budgets are tighter than ever this year. A children ministry and a Christian bookstore say they understand and want to make it easier on the pocketbook to give.

Arzigul Tursun, who lives in China's far northwest region, is more than six months pregnant and is being hounded by authorities who want her to have an abortion. Tursun already has two children with her husband.

Heads of state convened at the U.N. headquarters on Wednesday to begin talks on how to foster religious tolerance. But Saudi Arabia's leadership role in the conference made representatives and human rights groups question the amount of progress the gathering would yield.

A Christian colony in Pakistan is in distress over a government order to vacate their homes within 72 hours so that workers can demolish their neighborhood and expand a main road. The government is not offering the 48 affected families any compensation.

China will issue a "human rights action plan" that will seek to "expand democracy and strengthen the rule of law," a Chinese official said this week. This is the first time the communist state has announced a plan to improve citizens' rights.

Two Iranian pastors recently acquitted of apostasy charges countered the court's recently exposed claim that they had renounced their Christian faith. But the two men said they had never denied their Christian faith in court.

President-elect Barack Obama is not only inspiring hope for positive change among Americans but also overseas in Africa, church leaders say. "It is a positive turn for Africa," said Bishop Joseph Wasonga of Maseno West Anglican Church in Kenya.

The persistent and vicious attacks against Christians in India have a Christian ministry leader who has been going into the persecution hotspot of Orissa state calling the violence "religious genocide."

An Indian Christian group turned their attention to a northeast state that was devastated by a series of terror bombing this past week as violence against the minority Christian population continues to rage in the rest of the country.

London buses may soon be plastered with ads proclaiming "There's probably no God," if a British atheist group has its way. Among the campaign's supporters is well-known atheist activist Richard Dawkins, who promised to match BHA's goal of raising $9,000 for the ads.

More than 15,000 Iraqi Christians, or 2,500 families, have been driven out of Mosul over the past two weeks, officials said. The number skyrocketed from last week's estimate of some 3,000 Christians that fled the city.